What small mistakes did you make that ruined your mission?

[Loerelau]

Now had the same issue with an engineer and fixing my tires. Wish kerbals would upgrade during the mission, it's all about experience, no?

[Falkenherz]

Forgot to check center of lift and center of mass on my spaceplanes when empty. I usually realise this after an hour, during re-entry, when the plane terminally flips out. Never learn.

Had sent a refueling ship without docking port to Minmus.

Docking port unaccessible.

Not enough fuel. Not enough fuel. Not enough fuel. Not enough fuel. Not enough fuel...

[cosmoruski]

Attached an automated Pod (from a merged launcher) under the probe main engine

here is the in flight repair

[Enkiel]

Small mistake.... I did 3 mun landing last night to attempt to drop a lab on the ground.

1st attempt ; everything is fine, except that i forgot to crew it... *Add my two scientific to the lot*

2nd attempt ; again, everything is fine, but i forgot an antenna... *add 8 antenna (better safe than sorry)*

3rd attempt ; again, perfection, except i forgot the crew again... So i fixed everything, and went to bed.

[sardaukar11]

forgot the antenna for a space station in kerbins orbit

[Starwhip]

Forgetting that I-Beams do not tranfer fuel has had... unfortunate consequences.

[Geschosskopf]

I once forgot to bring along a few extra Kerbals to kick out the airlock as sacrifices to the Kraken before important burns. Wherefore the Kraken became wroth and smote my ship hip and thigh.

[Overland]

finding a steep dropoff cliff-like grade in the terrain.. around sunset... hitting brakes to slow the locomotive and train from 37m/s..

the train was at a 40 something degree downward angle.. brakes caused the train to bunch up on the locomotive with all its weight like an accordion..

4408 IIs back wheels lifted off the ground.. nose hit the dirt like a pickaxe.. bogeys, generators.. intakes littered the hillside.. as for the train itself.. strangely everything survived as the locomotive rolled.. except now the cab wasnt part of the locomotive anymore and the train looked more like a headless chicken

after a quick save restore.. the same hill became an effortless 10m/s descent with dynamic braking...

wrong procedure of operation.. for the wrong type of terrain..

a simple absent minded mistake.. but a critical one

[Kenchikuka]

Once i take a contract to a probe in polar orbit on the sun (yes, insane, but i lake a challenge).

welll i did, but no reward... forgot the antenna =/

today i use RT, so no more probe wirhout antenna.

[LlamaDragon]

I installed RoverDude's life support mod and immediately sent up a mission to Minmus with no food for the crew, which I didn't notice until they were halfway there. Fortunately, they didn't have to turn around and come right back home or dramatically shorten their mission, so it doesn't really count as "ruined". I launched a food probe that caught up to them in Minmus orbit in time to prevent any problems.

[RainDreamer]

Aside from forgetting things as always, sometimes I made a mistake of accidently hit z instead of gently tapping shift and have things ramming to each others at full throttle. The distance between disaster and success is only a few mm...

[Goddess Bhavani]

I installed RoverDude's life support mod and immediately sent up a mission to Minmus with no food for the crew, which I didn't notice until they were halfway there. Fortunately, they didn't have to turn around and come right back home or dramatically shorten their mission, so it doesn't really count as "ruined". I launched a food probe that caught up to them in Minmus orbit in time to prevent any problems.

With TAC life support I sent a low tech micro-shuttle to do a Munar flyby with a free-return flight plan, without adding additional life support canisters to the stock Mk. 1 cockpit.

It was a mad rush to get Jeb home before he ran out of oxygen (running out of food or water gives some margin. Electrcity or oxygen out is rapidly fatal.

Placing a tiny probe with life support and modest fuel supplies around Munar orbit seems to be a good idea to play with.

[LlamaDragon]

With TAC life support I sent a low tech micro-shuttle to do a Munar flyby with a free-return flight plan, without adding additional life support canisters to the stock Mk. 1 cockpit.

It was a mad rush to get Jeb home before he ran out of oxygen (running out of food or water gives some margin. Electrcity or oxygen out is rapidly fatal.

Placing a tiny probe with life support and modest fuel supplies around Munar orbit seems to be a good idea to play with.

If I'd thought about it more I would've put two food canisters on my probe just to leave some out there for future stupid mistakes, but I just sent up one in a KAS box and had the engineer grab it and bolt it to my ship. Maybe I'll take advantage of some satellite contracts to leave some emergency snacks here and there, just in case...

[nigelvn]

finding out I forgot a ladder on my 1-person eve lander/returner after planting a flag

last quicksave? in orbit...

[Enkiel]

finding out I forgot a ladder on my 1-person eve lander/returner after planting a flag

last quicksave? in orbit...

I've learned a few nights ago to always do a save before starting a mission (not a quicksave, a save from the space center). Saved my ass a few time.

[Darmok]

I had a small mistake that nearly ruined the mission but I got lucky with the time of the failure. I forgot to add solar panels on a Mun rescue mission. Fortunately I had enough batteries to last through the return trip and I didn't even notice until I had managed to get a return that dipped down to 50 km on Kerbin. At that point I lost control and I was wondering why SAS stopped working. I was thinking, "the batteries are dead; how can the batteries be dead? Oh ... crap". It took a few orbits before the return capsule slowed enough to land but luckily the parachutes and landing legs can be deployed without electrical power.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Darmok

[CaptainApollo]

My small mistake was making Jeb go on an EVA after reaching my first orbit, which resulted in him hitting the craft and making it gyrate out of balance, thus stranding him in space and having to revert. At least Jeb's okay...

[4a6562]

Mine always ends up forgetting to deploy solar panels or forgetting an antenna.

[EdgySpork]

Forgot the orbital engine on my first Mun lander.

Jebediah was lost in space for a year after that.

[Joonatan1998]

For the "place a probe with x part into orbit around planet" contracts I often forget to add the part required.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Forgetting the decoupler below the upper stage engine of a munar rocket.

What else to do? Try and burn the bottom stage off

[scavenger]

i didn't know anything about the new heating rules for the LV-N nuclear reactors. I got two ships that were sent to Plock and Moho, and everything ran fine. Until I heard a strange noise, and realized there was no engines anymore. Yes, I used to triple the LV-N with tri-couplers, and it took me some time to understand that they just exploded...

[John FX]

I can't count the number of times I have pressed 'shift' and scrolled the mouse to zoom in.

Not a problem usually except in the flight screen...

I have long wished for standardisation in the view controls across screens.